TRAI rejects higher entry fee for Internet telephony

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Tuesday rubbished the Department of Telecom’s (DoT) suggestion to charge a higher entry fee from the internet service providers (ISPs) for rolling out internet telephony services. The Telecom watchdog, in its reply to DoT said, “The authority proposes no change in entry fee for ISPs to provide Internet telephony. Any direct comparison of access service providers and ISPs, due to vast difference in privileges, services, and resources given to them under their respective licenses, does not seem to be desirable.”

Earlier, DoT had suggested higher entry fee for ISPs who pay up to six per cent of their average gross revenue (AGR) as licence fee, whereas telecom operators pay up to 10 per cent. Trai has recommended a uniform annual licence fee of six per cent on all ISPs. Trai also slammed DoT over delaying opening of unrestricted Internet telephony in India. It warned the government that restrictions on net telephony would encourage grey market operations.

A Indiantelevision News